


5 Times Someone Realized Anduin Loved Baine

by mneiai



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 10:52:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14235696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mneiai/pseuds/mneiai
Summary: Anduin's heart had already been won.





	5 Times Someone Realized Anduin Loved Baine

**Author's Note:**

> Per usual, unbeta'd, partially written on a phone on the subway, so there's probably stuff I didn't catch.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr [Personal](http://manyangledone.tumblr.com) and [RP (Anduin and Tyrathan)](http://manyangledones.tumblr.com) if you want to chat or whatever.

**1**

“We can stop, if you’d like,” Varian said for what might have been the fifth time, shifting awkwardly in his chair as Anduin continued pouring over the files.

“No, it’s fine. We both know putting it off is just that--it’s going to happen, eventually.”

Varian nodded, leaning against the table and looking at the space in front of Anduin. All of the files were the same: A picture, reports with all of the basic information and then any dirt SI:7 managed to dig up, and what the family offered in return for a betrothal. Standard, at this point, but for as much as he’d loved Tiffin when they’d finally come together, a part of him still wished he could let his son marry for love and not have to grow into it.

“You’re only 15, we can put the nobles off for a few more years.”

Anduin finally turned his attention to his father, giving him a pointed look. “Father, you know I don’t mind. I’ve known since I could understand what marriage meant that it would be an arranged one.”

“I just worry, Anduin. I don’t want you to settle for something because you believe that’s all you’re allowed to have.”

“Father….” Anduin gripped his hand, giving the gentle smile he’d inherited from Tiffin. “This is the one thing I DO have control over, when it comes to my relationships. Because...because what if I fall for someone the nobles wouldn’t approve of? Or who I couldn’t have a child with? What happens then?”

Varian grimaced, imagining the political drama that would flare up, but not missing the fatalistic tone underlying his son’s words, either. “Because you already want someone that fits that description? Maybe, both of those?”

Sighing and shaking his head, Anduin turned his attention back to the files. “Maybe, but...they don’t feel the same way.”

“Anduin, you can’t know that. You’re easy to love, anyone would--”

“They CAN’T feel the same way, they can’t let themselves. They have responsibilities that...that might put us at odds.”

Varian’s eyes widened. He wondered when, and how, his son could have met someone from the Horde, if that was truly what he was implying. And how to make sure he fell very, thoroughly out of love with that person before real faction conflict erupted again.

 

**2**

She hadn’t thought, before it happened, that Baine and Anduin would be perfect friends, so Jaine wasn’t kicking herself for missing that they might be more than that. It was there in the way they met eyes across the courtroom, in the way Anduin watched Baine’s face with such concern and tried to catch his attention when he knew he’d be upset.

Right now, Jaina was finding it hard to think of anything but her own rage, though Kalec had done his best to shock her out of it. She knew in another time, in another place, she might try to speak to one of the boys, try to help them. She just...couldn’t fathom it, now. Baine would stay loyal to the Horde until it did far too much damage to justify and Anduin would be hurt, again and again, because of that. The Horde was insidious, it turned even the best people into monsters. 

But she had so much already to think about and was so, so tired. Someday she’d speak to Anduin, she was sure she’d have the opportunity before it was too late.

 

**3**

Betrayal was never easy to take, so Mishka was ready to speak with Anduin as soon as the Black Prince’s role in the breakout was known. She’d brought his favorite tea and treats that she’d made, settling into his rooms with other agents keeping watch to make sure they weren’t interrupted.

Anduin was upset, that she could tell, but not as much as she’d expected. And when the conversation finally reached the topic she’d been dreading, she was faced with the odd notion that their intelligence was not quite as effective as she’d believed. Though, when it came to the White Pawn, maybe they should have realized that already.

“I...Wrathion was my friend, yes,” Anduin agreed, a flush brightening his cheeks, “but we weren’t--I know what people were saying, but we...never….” He stumbled on the words, more flustered than she thought she’d ever seen him, and ducked his head into his tea cup. “I don’t know, he just….Yes, he knows what it’s like to be a political figure, but he doesn’t really know what it’s like to rule. And I’d want someone...honest. Honorable. Someone I could trust to do the right thing because it’s going to help people, not just make events move the way they want them to. Wrathion has made that pretty clear that’s not him.”

She listened as he spoke, couldn’t help but notice the faraway look in his eyes. She wondered, for a moment, who it was that Anduin was comparing the young dragon to, but really there was only one other around his age that fit. Smiling, she motioned for him to give up his cup and poured more tea, deciding that, for now, the rest of SI:7 could stay in the dark.

 

**4**

Planning meetings with the Alliance were grueling affairs. Varian refused to leave Greymane out of them and in turn, Vol'jin made sure to always include Sylvanas, which usually led to a fight long before they were ready to stop and frequent breaks for tempers to cool.

The meetings weren't all bad, though, Vol'jin had to admit. Their plans were solid, if desperate, and worth the stress if it would keep the Legion at bay. 

And, other than watching Greymane and Sylvanas froth at each other, there were other forms of amusement: Baine and Stormwind's prince, for example, trying to conceal the fact they spent nearly every break with each other.

Vol'jin didn't know how many others had noticed, the long-suffering look on Varian's face whenever Anduin returned to the meeting room implied he was aware and knew better than to try to stop it. For his part, Vol'jin wouldn't interfere, not when there was something like peace between the factions and when the two were little more than boys, with few their own ages who shared such heavy responsibilities.

And, truth be told, he didn't mind Prince Anduin. He was one of the better examples of what a human could be. Baine could do worse for a friend, though the way the prince looked at him, Vol'jin worried it might become more than that. Anduin would have no option of neutrality if conflict rekindled, and Vol'jin didn't want to see Baine hurt like that.

 

**5**

Moira knew what it was like to fall for the enemy, but watching it happening to someone else was a little different. Sure, they weren't fighting with the Horde at the moment, but even Anduin had to admit it was unlikely peace would last once the Legion was taken care of.

After she realized it, she did her best to dissuade them from spending time together. She suspected she wasn’t the only one, with how smoothly she fulfilled her goals. If a meeting broke apart and Anduin seemed to gravitate towards Baine, she’d meet him first and distract him. If her guards noticed the two of them together, they’d find a runner who needed the High King or an issue that had to be addressed immediately. 

If Anduin looked a little more crestfallen every time, then so be it. Her own story was a tragedy, after all, and she didn’t want to see Anduin repeating it.

 

**And the 1 Time Baine Realized He Loved Anduin**

Seeing Anduin across the battlefield was worse than Baine had anticipated--it wasn't just fighting against Anduin, it was seeing Anduin forced into it. That armor wasn't Anduin it was some ode to a long-dead grandfather and his father's sword was not a weapon meant for him. He wasn't someone who should be surrounded by death, wasn't someone who should have no choice but to kill.

None of the pain from the arrows and blades that penetrated his hide could distract Baine from that feeling of wrongness. And he knew that Anduin must feel it, too, as the sword slipped from his fingers

Baine wished he could see his face, could work out the thoughts going through his mind. Did Anduin realize how wrong it was, for him to be here like this? Or had the others around him twisted him too far from his true self? Did he realize what it was doing to Baine, seeing him across the battlefield, active in the war as he’d never imagined his priestly friend would be?

The massive Light spell was the only comfort for Baine during that battle, the one moment where Anduin was fully himself. That it meant the fight continued raging on was less of a concern, Baine felt like he could fight for eternity if it meant Anduin would remember himself.

All Baine wanted in that moment, more than to win, more than for the Horde to be safe and secure, was to find a way for his friend to never have to see war again.

And later, as they gathered their injured, as they fled the Undercity, his thoughts circled back to Anduin no matter where they were supposed to focus: On Anduin’s smile, on the softness of his hands against Baine’s, on the way his eyes used to light up when Baine entered the room.

On all the signs he must have missed, on all the years he must have lost, as Anduin waited for him.

And as he thought of the war raging across Azeroth as never before and the armor on Anduin’s body, the sword in his hand, as he ordered his soldiers into battle, Baine realized that Anduin wasn’t waiting anymore.


End file.
